SAN ANTONIO – Hundreds of volunteers started preparing meals Sunday morning that will feed 25,000 people on Thanksgiving.
It is the 45th year that the Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner will be in San Antonio, and organizers say this year will be its busiest one yet.
“We’re cooking 550 turkeys in the kitchen. So, you can see all the volunteers are so enthusiastic. It never surprises me how the community comes together,” said Patricia Jimenez, an organizer of the event and Raul Jimenez’s daughter.
The meal will be held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center on Thanksgiving morning, and an additional 4,000 meals will be sent to seniors and people who are homebound.
“It’s just so wonderful to be here and just to give back to the community. I mean, there’s so much that you can do, but this is one of the best things that I really look forward to,” said first-time volunteer Mackenzie Spandoni.
“Turkey, stuffing, yams, green beans, cranberry sauce. They’ll be cutting up all the pumpkin pies. And it’s it’s going to be a beautiful, beautiful day,” Jimenez said.
This year, every turkey has been purchased thanks to a $100,000 donation from Kym’s Angels Foundation.
“We’re not thinking big enough. Never thinking big enough. So I’ve always got to think bigger. And this is the way we do it,” said Kym Rapier and Glenn Verette.
If you’d like to learn more about attending or volunteering for the Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner, click here.